Manchester United host Newcastle United in the sole Boxing Day fixture this season, with managers Ruben Amorim and Eddie Howe dealing with a host of injuries.
Both sides have had an inconsistent start to the season, with United seventh in the table and Newcastle 11th.
Here's everything you need to know about the match:
How to watch
The match will be broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK, NBC Sports in the U.S., JioHotstar in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Key Details
Kick-off time: Friday, Dec. 26 at 8 p.m. GMT (3 p.m. ET; 1:30 a.m. IST and 6 a.m. AEST, Saturday)
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
Referee: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Stuart Atwell
Injury and Team News
Manchester United
Amad, D/M, OUT - AFCON
Noussair Mazraoui, D, OUT - AFCON
Bryan Mbuemo, F, OUT - AFCON
Bruno Fernandes, M, OUT - hamstring
Kobbie Mainoo, M, OUT - calf
Harry Maguire, D, DOUBT - knock
Matthijs de Ligt, D, DOUBT - knock
Newcastle United
Dan Burn, D, OUT - ribs
Emil Krafth, D, OUT - knee
Jamaal Lascelles, D, OUT - muscle
Kieran Trippier, D, OUT - hamstring
Sven Botman, D, OUT - back
Valentino Livramento, D, OUT - knee
William Osula, F, OUT - ankle
Talking Points
What can Man United do without Bruno Fernandes?
Of the 31 goals Manchester United have scored in the Premier League so far, Fernandes scored five and assisted a further seven. 12/31 may not jump out in the way of the early Erling Haaland-Manchester City ratio but look beyond the numbers and the impact Fernandes has on this team is plainly evident. In this skewed 3-4-2-1 system of Amorim's, Fernandes is both the fulcrum and the main conduit for ball movement. His incessant adventure pushes the team forward and his ability to pick a pass and expert set piece delivery have been crucial in making United the second highest scorers in the league this season. His most natural replacement in Kobbie Mainoo is out injured too and that means United are left with two senior central midfielders who are defensive minded in Manuel Ugarte and Casemiro.
If you wanted a stat to fully capture Bruno's importance, sample this: since the 2022-23 campaign started, Fernandes hasn't started in seven Premier League games. United have lost six and drawn the other, while scoring just four goals across those matches.
Boxing Day heritage
One more for the stats nerds: This fixture, the first Boxing Day in the Premier League era that seeing just one game played, is between the team with the most Boxing Day wins in the Premier League era (Man United, 22) and the team with the joint-most Boxing Day defeats (Newcastle, 16).
Another tidbit that will please Manchester United fans -- Manchester United have won all three of their Prem era Boxing Day games against Newcastle, with all three coming under different managers -- 4-3 in 2012 (Sir Alex Ferguson), 3-1 in 2014 (Louis van Gaal) and 4-1 in 2019 (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer).
Can Newcastle protect a lead?
Newcastle United have lost an incredible 13 points from winning positions this season, the latest coming in a hugely controversial draw against Chelsea where they let a 2-0 first half lead slip. There are games in which Newcastle have started furiously (like this Chelsea game, or the Barcelona fixture at St. James Park) and then allowed their intensity to drop and allowed mistakes and errors to creep in at the backline. As beset as they are by injuries, these are the sort of slip ups that Howe -- who craves control and discipline above all -- will hate to see his teams commit.
The underlying numbers are promising. They have the third best xG conceded numbers in the league (18.8) but are eighth in terms of actual goals conceded (22). If Newcastle can close the gap between the top and let their solid defensive shape dictate games, they won't be in the bottom half for too much longer.
Will Amorim trust the youth?
With his squad stretched wafer thin by injuries and three major departures to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, Ruben Amorim's interest in using Manchester United's youth players will be sorely tested. Central midfielder Jack Fletcher (son of club veteran Darren) was given a 20-odd minute run out at Villa Park while Shea Lacey, a promising playmaker, was also given a brief ten minutes as Amorim chased a strong Villa side.
If he has concerns about the young players' ability to withstand the physicality of the Premier League, he'd have preferred to face anyone other than Saturday's opponents. Newcastle's Sandro Tonali seems to have regained the confidence and form that makes him such a brilliant deep lying playmaker while Bruno Guimarães remains one of the league's most impactful midfielders when in form. The bruising Joelinton may still be sidelined, but the two senior midfielders plus one of Jacob Ramsey or Lewis Miley provide a dynamic balance to that area of Newcastle's team.
In fact, Miley's success as a 19-year-old academy graduate provides sharp relief against Amorim's disinclination to look to his own academy at Carrington.
Amorim's rigidity vs. Howe's pragmatism
Ruben Amorim flirted with a 4-2-4/4-4-2 amalgamation briefly in the thrilling 4-4 draw against Bournemouth but reverted to his good old 3-4-2-1 in the very next match. It's not just the formation that's rigid, it's the way of playing within it -- starting at a high tempo, slacking off at the start of the second half and an isolated midfield often being exposed by canny teams. They prefer it when their opponents press higher, allowing them to get the ball to their forwards faster and often struggle with deep-lying teams.
Eddie Howe, meanwhile, will set up his teams in a 4-3-3, but with intensity ranging from opponent to opponent. He's equally capably of asking them to playing with a high press, not allowing the opposition to set the tempo and attacking on turnovers as well as sitting back and using the extreme pace he has on the wings to play on the counter. It's not always worked -- like when he tried the latter strategy in the Wear-Tyne derby -- but a Bruno Fernandes-less Man United might be the perfect foil for Howe to play to the pragmatic side of his philosophy.